1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a long-sought means of providing a feeling of warmth to the entire human body for comfort and protection in active outdoor pursuits in cold environments by means of conventional, convenient, practical and desireable materials, such as a neck scarf, to which an appendage or bib is attached and made an integral part and in which is disposed a heater which may consist of a strip or strips of electrical resistance material connected by insulated conductors to a low-voltage power source, or a heater of chemical substance which is easily portable either in the bib or in the scarf.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since man first wore garments to insulate him from the cold, a simple means of warming the human body in active pursuits in cold weather without the addition of cumbersome and restrictive protective clothing has been sought. The advent of a portable, nickel-cadmium-alkaline cell battery, patented by Ernst Jungner of Germany in 1899 and improved in 1935 for commercial production, has given rise to many efforts at warming specific parts of the human body by many skilled in the ordinary arts of electricity or apparel, some of which have met a small part of ever-increasing demands for protection from the cold in outdoor activities of all sorts. For example: Longo disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,500,014 a means of heating the legs or the neck with a small heating element, either in a blanket in the former or a scarf in the latter. A small heating element in a blanket may warm only parts of the legs and a small heating element in a scarf will warm the back of the neck alone.
Constanzo taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,293,405 that a small heating unit may warm the toes of the feet and Arron in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,392,264 and 3,524,965, sought to make improvements on heating the toes of the feet but both patents were declared invalid (187 USPQ257). Yet, each taught only a means and modification by which only the toes might be warmed.
Winchell, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,079,486, taught a sock which also only heated the foot; and Corona, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,241, disclosed a heated vest which, though impractical of portable power, still only warmed a part of the chest and back. Doron, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,809,375, disclosed an ascot scarf, without heating element, with a dickey or bib-like extension which draped over the shoulders and chest and a back panel which fell over the upper portion of the back. Doron taught that his invention would assist in protecting the upper part of the body from penetration of cold, although he taught nothing about warming the body.
In each of the herein-before-cited inventions, the devices were designed to be worn under protective garments normally employed in keeping the human body warm in cold environments.
However, despite the foregoing and other obvious applications of portable, electrical heat to specific parts of the body, i.e., the hands, the feet, the neck, etc., a person actively working or playing in a cold environment has, until this invention, remained feeling cold on other parts of the body than those to which electric heating has been directly applied.
Medical arts have long taught the application of heat for specific bodily parts and even to specific parts of the body to cause general warmth, general well-being or therapy using, primarily, electrical current supplied by stationary sources to which a patient must be secured and therefor constrained from active pursuit of enterprise or enjoyment; however, little, if anything, significant has been taught by the medical arts for heating parts of ambulatory patients and nothing has been taught by the medical arts by way of heating active and ambulatory bodies with electricity.
Thus, numerous technicians with ordinary skills in the arts pertaining to warming the human body, over a substantial period of time and notwithstanding the availability of the necessary materials, have failed to percive a most desireable, long-felt and unsolved need for an otherwise easily achievable goal which is a surprising and unusual innovation, immediately recognized by the outdoor consumer as being of great benefit, comfort and practicality.